We Made It!

I know I haven't posted much lately but that should be changing soon because...the move is over! We made it and we officially live in Seattle.

Things I learned from driving across the country:

1. The biggest motorcycle/biker rally takes place in Sturgis, South Dakota at the beginning of August.
2. Montana is huge.

Happy to see the beautiful view,
but also terrified.

3. I am scared of mountains. Apparently very scared. I had a near panic attack driving (yes, as in I was in the driver's seat) up to Mount Rushmore, and was very nervous for most of the mountainous drive after that. We have dubbed it "the mountain panic." (OK, a friend came up with this name, but we've adopted it.)
4. A car with good gas mileage is a blessing.
5. Rearview mirrors are not that necessary. (The car was packed full.)
6. IKEA is wonderful. But the actual store is overwhelming.

Things I've learned from a week and two days in Seattle:

1. Recycling is serious business. Look at all the signs before you throw anything away. (The recycling dumpster at our apartment building is bigger than the trash dumpster. There's also a compost bin.)
2. People do not understand why someone from Mississippi would move here.
3. People do not understand why someone from Mississippi would have an Obama sticker on their car.
4. I don't have much of a southern accent (according to people here. I shudder to think what their expectation is, though).
5. Air conditioning practically doesn't exist here, at least in homes. It's just not needed. This is still blowing my mind.
6. Microwaves are strangely expensive here. I don't know if this a new development and I just hadn't bought one in a while, or if it's because Wal-Mart doesn't exist here, but I just cannot pay $88-$110 for a microwave.
7. Mt. Rainier is huge.

So far, I love it here. We've got a great apartment in a great neighborhood and we have a wonderful landlord. In one hour, he walked us through our entire lease to make sure we understood everything, checked the apartment to see what the move-in condition was, and fixed a short-circuit in our bathroom. We've gotten our apartment mostly set up and unpacked. From home, we can take a short walk to a couple of bars, a couple of restaurants, one coffee shop + sandwich house, and Goodwill. A slightly longer walk gets us to the library, more coffee shops, and the main strip of our neighborhood that has record stores, a bookstore, and a small movie theater.

I've found some freelance editing work, and I'm looking for more (or other work). Aaron has a part-time job with a furniture store. He actually walked into the store, mentioned he was looking for a job, got hired, and filled out a W-2 form on the spot. So far it's not a lot of hours, but we were both happily surprised that at least one job was that easy.

I'll get back to regular blogging soon. But until then, I'm going to keep exploring!